The New Generation
by KienaFyre
Summary: The Turtles are trying to track down the Shredder.  Along their journey they meet some new friends and new relationships ensue.
1. Chapter 1: Shadow

**Okay, so this is my first fan-fic and it is later going to evolve into more chapters. I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or any of the references to them. However, characters never mentioned in any of the serieses do belong to me.**

A dark shadow fell across the wall. The shadow belonged to a man, a man covered in sharp armor that shone like a thousand silver spikes. He looked at the house he was standing next to. He had the right address. He was here to punish a foolish man who had disobeyed his direct orders to give him his eldest daughter to train in the ways of the ninja. The armored man was Shredder, a fearsome warrior who was the leader of the Foot Clan.

He had traveled many miles to exact his revenge on this foolish suburban man. He walked over the dead grass, the blades crushing beneath his feet. It was the dry season, none of the plants being green and all being parched. He walked to the nearest bush, which stood right next to the house front. With a grim smile, Shredder raised a hand and touched the bush. A small flame immediately sprang from his finger tips and caught the bush aflame.

Shredder turned away from the now brightly burning bush and began his journey away from the scene. It would be better that he wasn't around anyways, when the family woke to their home burning into a funeral pyre. As he disappeared into the night, Shredder heard a noise that was music to his ears. The faint sound of a young woman screaming in terror.


	2. Chapter 2:  Turtles

Four indistinct shapes traveled silently through the sewers, moving from shadow to shadow. They were searching for something or someone. As the shapes moved through the sewers, a light from the above man-hole shone on them, revealing what they really were. Turtles. Four large turtles, each wearing a differently colored headband. As they continued through the sewers, one of the turtles spoke.

"Hey Leo, are you sure that we are going the right way?" The lead turtle, who was wearing a blue headband and had two katanas strapped across his back, sighed loudly and turned to face his younger brother.

"Yes Mikey, I am sure. Master Splinter said that he was sure Shredder was heading this way. Why would you even think of questioning Splinter?" Mikey, the turtle with the orange headband, shrugged and began to twirl his nunchaku around.

Mikey, stop that! You're gonna end up hitting something!", reproached Donny, but it was too late. One of Mikey's nunchaku hit the side of the sewer, a loud echoing sound reverberating through the tunnel. Donny placed his bo staff on the ground and walked to Mikey, snatching the nunchaku out of his hand.

"Great job idiot. Just what we need, a bunch of humans waking up to creepy sounds coming from the sewers.", sneered Raph, the youngest of the turtles, in his red headband. He had his left hand on his sai, trying not to show his disdain from Mikey.

"Raph, shut up! This is no time to argue. We need to find-" But Leo was cut off by screams from the above street. He climbed the ladder leading up to the street and slowly lifted the man-hole cover. He swore loudly at the sight in front of him.

A mid-sized house was on fire, smoke billowing into the air. People stood all around screaming and crying, while firefighters were trying unsuccessfully to quench the flames. Leo leapt out of the sewers, followed by his brothers.

"C'mon, we've gotta help!"


	3. Chapter 3: Fire

The turtles ran up the street towards the burning house. They approached a middle-aged man holding who looked to be his wife in his arms, while a teenage boy stood next to them, tears streaming down his face.

"What happened here?", asked Leo over the roar of the flames. The man looked at him over his wife's shoulder. Any astonishment he felt at seeing four large turtles talking to him was well hidden as he answered,

"We don't know. We woke up and saw that the entire house was on fire. My wife and I ran out here, hoping the kids would follow, but only Tyler came out. The firefighters have been trying to get to them, but they haven't been able to stop the fire."

Leo looked at his brothers with a determined look on his face. The other three nodded and Leo turned to face the man again.

"Where are the others?"

"The girls are on the top level and our other son is on the ground level. Why?" But he did not receive an answer. The four brothers ran to the house, Leo taking the ground floor while the others made their way to the top.

Raph saw a window leading to the top floor and busted it open with his sai. Donny and Mikey came in behind him. They saw two young girls huddled together on the floor. They both gasped audibly at the sight of the turtles.

"It's alright, we're friends. We came to help." Donny and Mikey each lifted a girl and were about to go back out the window when one of the girls suddenly yelled,

"Wait! Where are Vicki and Ali?" Raph looked around the room again and swore loudly. The other girls were nowhere in sight. He turned to his brothers.

"Get those two out of here! This place looks like it will collapse at any second. I'll go and find the others!" Raph ran down the stairs then, to find the missing girls.


	4. Chapter 4: Girl?

Raph got to the bottom of the stairs and entered the main floor of the house. Flames were devouring everything around him.

_I need to find these girls fast before the entire house collapses._ He saw Leo trying to break down a door in the hallway. Leo looked up at the sound of Raph's footsteps.

"Raph! What in the world are you doing here?", Leo screamed over the roar of the flames.

"There are two more people down here besides the boy! I need to find them." Suddenly, Raph heard the faint screams of a girl coming from across the hall.

"Help. Please, help us." He ran to the door that led to the room from which the voice was coming from.

"Hey! Can you hear me?", he screamed through the door. There were a few seconds of silence in which the girl did not answer. Raph was about to ask again when he heard a faint reply,

"Yes, I can."

"Alright, I'm gonna get you outta there! Get away from the door!" Without waiting for an answer, he slammed into the door with all his might, knocking it clean off its hinges. The door fell to the floor with a bang. Raph entered the room and saw an older teenage girl sitting against the far wall. She was holding a younger girl in her arms while holding a rag to the younger girl's mouth and nose. The older of the two started when she saw Raph. He ignored her.

"Are you both alright?" The older girl nodded tersely.

"Okay, hold on." He picked her up in his arms and she gasped. The girl managed to hold onto her sister, adjusting the rag to make sure the younger would not inhale any smoke. Raph carried them both out of the room and saw Leo carrying a young man on his back. They both raced out of the house, barely making it out before the entire structure collapsed.

Raph placed the girls down and began to walk away. After placing her sister down, the older girl saw him walk towards his brothers.

"Hey, hold on a minute." She started after him, waving for him to stop. He turned and looked at her. Though she was filthy from the smoke, Raph thought that she was actually quite pretty. Her hair was dark coffee brown with a pale blonde streak on the side. Her eyes were brown, filled with fierce determination. This was one girl that he would not want to cross.

"Hey, thank you for saving us. I thought that we were going to die in there.", said the girl in a courteous voice. Raph was taken aback. He was used to humans being scared of him.

"Uh…no problem." She beamed at him.

"Thank you again, uh…I don't know your name." He face creased in a frown.

"Oh, it's Raphael. But everyone calls me Raph." She smiled again.

"Well, thank you Raph. My name's Vicki and it was wonderful to meet you. Hope to see you again." She ran back to her younger sister, who had begun to cry in earnest.

"Yeah, see you again, Vicki." Raph turned away from the sight of the still burning remains of the house, towards his brothers who were waiting to torment him. But he did not care. He was just waiting to get back into the sewers, to escape the face of the pretty girl.

Shredder cursed under his breath. He had watched the house burn to the ground from afar. He had been hoping that the family would have been killed. Now his plans were in ruins because of those thrice blasted turtles. It was their fault the family had survived. It was their fault the girl was happily reunited with her family. He began to pace, wondering now how to proceed.

It hit him. The turtles. They would be his answer. After all, they were his problem, so they would also be his solution. He smiled in spite of himself. The girl would still be his after all.


	5. Chapter 5: Missing

Many months passed before the turtles returned to New York City. They had been unsuccessful in finding Shredder, though Leo was still sure that they house fire they encountered in Ohio was somehow linked to him.

"Maybe we should go back and investigate. You know, talk to the family and see if they know anything.", suggested Donny one evening. Mikey then turned and looked at Raph, an impish grin on his face.

"Yeah, then Raph can visit his girlfriend.", he taunted.

"Shut the hell up, Mikey! And if you don't, I'll make you!", snarled Raph at his brother. Raph then turned his shell on his brothers while they laughed at his embarrassment. Ever since they had rescued that family from their burning home and Raph mentioned that the oldest daughter was sorta pretty, his brothers had not stopped making fun of him. Only Leo knew when enough was enough.

"Alright guys, let's get serious. We are going back to New York tomorrow. So once we check in with Master Splinter, we should probably start looking around the city for clues about Shredder. After all, he did once have a hideout there, remember?" , started Leo, trying to help Raph out. As much as he liked to have a little fun at his brother's expense, he could see that Raph was going to blow his top soon.

As they entered their home in the sewers, Master Splinter came forward to greet his sons. As he approached, each one bowed to him. He was their sensei, their master, and their father. After they rose from their bows, Splinter spoke,

"So, my sons, did you have any luck trying to find Shredder?" Leo answered,

"No Master, we could not find him, no matter how much we looked. But we did have a close encounter with him, I think. Master, while we were traveling, we saved a family from a burning house. I believe that that family is somehow connected to Shredder." Leo finished, looking at Splinter for his words of wisdom. Without another word, Splinter went to the stack of newspapers sitting on the couch. He searched through them and then pulled one from the middle of the pile. He gave it to Leo and said,

"This might help explain what happened." The other three turtles gathered around Leo and read the top article from the _New York Times_ from a couple of weeks ago.

_For a town that nothing spectacular happens in, many interesting _

_ things have been going on in Tallmadge, OH. Just two weeks ago, _

_ a local family's house caught fire for no reason. After the local fire _

_ department examined the remains of the house, they could find no _

_ reason why the house should have gone up in smoke. There was no _

_ bad wiring, no faulty connection, nothing that should have caught _

_ fire. But it did. In relation to this same unfortunate family, a member _

_ of the family has gone missing. One friend of the missing girl said, _

_ "I don't know what could have happened to her. One minute she was _

_ on the front steps of the school, waiting for a ride, the next she was _

_ gone." A picture of the missing girl is included below this article. If _

_ she is seen, please call…." _

The article continued on with phone numbers to call and more interviews with family members and friends of the missing girl. But none of the turtles were looking at it anymore. Instead, four pairs of eyes were staring at the picture of the missing girl. With her short hair and dark eyes, there was no mistaking it. The missing girl was Vicki.


	6. Chapter 6: Thief

All four turtles were staring at Vicki's picture. Mikey was the first one to say something.

"Hold on, what does this have to do with Shredder? I mean, it's bad that she is missing, but do you honestly think that Shredder would kidnap her? That would be crazy! She couldn't be of any use to him, could she? What use is she? I mean, I know she's hot, but that's about it!" Raph shot his brother a murderous glare at his last statement. Donny also entered his brother's tirade about how stupid Shredder would be to kidnap a useless girl. Splinter listened patiently to his sons, watching Raph grow angrier and angrier while Leo just stood there in silence. Eventually, Splinter held up his hand for his sons to be quiet.

"I know his motives may be unclear to you now, just as they were for me. However, the answer presented itself just last week. So, Michelangelo, Donatello, quiet yourselves. And Raphael, be at peace, all is not lost." Splinter raised a newspaper clipping from another New York paper and handed it to the turtles.

"April and Casey brought it to me because they believed that it will help explain." The article was about a bunch of crimes that had been happening throughout the city. It was not just about small little crimes. The thief had broken into a high-security vault on Wall Street and had also stolen some very rare technologies from a government agency located in the city. The article went on to explain that, while no one has yet caught the thief, they did have a picture of the thief taken from an old lady's cell phone. The details of the picture were very blurry, but three things were clear from the photo: the thief was a girl, she had a red Foot Clan arm band on her left arm, and she had a bright blonde streak in her hair. Raph was shaking in anger.

"That CAN'T be Vicki! It just can't be! She would never steal from anyone!" Splinter let his son rage for a few minutes before saying,

Raphael, I do not believe she is doing this intentionally. However, it does not matter what I believe in this matter. We must focus on what is happening. She is a thief and is working for Shredder. She must be stopped. The four of you are to go and find her, disarm her, and bring her back here." With that note of finality, Leo, Donny, Mikey, and Raph headed out to put a stop to Vicki's crime wave.

Shredder looked down at the small figure bowing to him. It felt good to be in power again. He motioned with his hand for the figure to rise. The girl raised her eyes, once filled with the fierce determination that Raph had admired, were now filled with sadness, longing, and revenge. Shredder spoke to the girl in a soothing voice,

"Now, my child, I wish for you to go forth once more into the city. When you are there, you are allowed to find the ones who have hurt you so much. Do you remember them?" The girl nodded once, but said nothing. Shredder insisted that she tell him their names.

"Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and ….", she shuddered and began to shake. Shredder then asked her what the final enemy's name was.

"And….and…..RAPHAEL!" With a murderous gleam in her eyes, Vicki left the hideout to find the ones who had made her life into a living hell. The turtles.


	7. Chapter 7:  Why?

The turtles headed into downtown New York City, jumping from rooftop to rooftop with apparent ease. They were heading for the Bank of America headquarters, which was where Splinter thought Vicki would hit next in her crime spree. They came to the roof of the building and Raph turned away from his brothers, trying to hide the pain in his eyes. Leo saw this and went to him.

"Raph, I know this is gonna be hard, but we have to stop her. We can't just let her get away with robbing people just because you have a soft spot for her. Just let her go." Raph shuddered for a moment at the thought of having to fight Vicki and then faced Leo and nodded.

The brothers waited on the roof for a few moments before hearing an alarm from inside the building. They watched a small hooded figure come out of the building and run down a back alley. They jumped from the roof and landed in front of the figure, who stopped and backed away from them.

"Didn't your parents ever tell you that stealing is wrong?", asked Leo as he pulled his katana from his back sheaths. Mikey, Donny, and Raph also wielded their weapons at the figure. The person dropped the bags of money that it was carrying and pulled out two sharp, silver daggers. The figure ran at the turtles, trying to wear down their defenses. The turtles were fast, but so was their opponent. As soon as one of them would knock their adversary down, it would just get back up, oblivious to the damage that the turtles were inflicting on it.

Leo, Mikey, and Donny were all beginning to tire, but Raphael was just getting warmed up. He was furious that it was even remotely possible that Vicki was the thief. He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it. He was furious with himself for even thinking about the possibility. Every attack he made just made him angrier and every attack aimed at him and his brothers only furthered that anger. He wanted to prove beyond a doubt that this was not Vicki. The figure had just been knocked to the ground by a well-placed hit from Donny and was now charging Raph. As it approached, Raph took one of his sai and hooked it into the hood and mask the figure was wearing and tore it off. Turning to see his opponent's face, Raph saw, to his dismay, that it was Vicki.

She glared at him, hatred boiling in her eyes. Her entire being seemed to be shuddering in anger. Raph took a step back and then said,

"Vicki. Why? Why are you doing this?" He made to approach her, but was stopped by Leo. The turtles just stared at the girl, who answered,

"Why! You can just stand there and ask me 'Why?'! Why shouldn't I? It's all your fault! It's your fault for everything that has happened! And now, I'm going to kill you for it!" She ran at them again, but by this point she was crying, whether in anger or sadness, the turtles couldn't tell. But her defenses were down and Mikey was easily able to knock away her attack and force her weapons away. She fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, all of her fighting spirit leaving her. The four turtles stood around her, watching as she cried. She looked up at them and before she could lose conscience, asked,

"How could you?"

The turtles took Vicki back to their home in the sewers, eager to have Splinter look at her. She was still unconscious as they carried her to Splinter. He instructed them to take her to their training room, which had been cleared of all the weapons and anything that she could use to hurt them. The Mikey, Donny, and Leo placed her carefully on a pallet in the middle of the floor and left, locking her in the small room.

While his brothers were dealing with Vicki, Raph had gone to his room, upset at what had happened to her. The fierce determined gleam in Vicki's eyes had gone out, replaced by shear hatred, hatred meant for his brothers, hatred meant for him. He could not figure out why she hated him, but if he had to guess, he would have bet that Shredder had done something to her to make her forget who he was and more importantly, who she was.


	8. Chapter 8: Talk with a Rat

Vicki woke up the next morning to find herself with a large headache. She sat up from the pallet where the turtles had placed her the night before, holding onto her head as she sat up. She opened her eyes and gasped. She was not in her home like she thought she was. Instead, she was in a large circular room that smelled like the sewers. Her hand went immediately to her belt, but her weapons were gone.

"Do not bother looking for them. I removed them last night." Vicki whipped around and saw a giant rat standing on its hind legs and it was talking to her. Vicki did a back-flip and landed on the other side of the room, as far away from the rat as she could get. The rat chuckled at her reaction.

"I see that you were not expecting me. My sons, yes. But I do not believe that you were told about me." Vicki's look of surprise turned to one of hate when he mentioned the turtles.

"Where are they? Where are those soft-shelled, vile creatures? I will kill them! I will kill them all!" These last two statements were screams of anger and Vicki looked about the room, as if expecting the turtles to come out of the walls. The rat slowly shook his head and sat down on the cold cement floor.

"Child, you must calm yourself. They are not here. They have gone out. Why don't you come and join me here? Tell me your story." Although Vicki knew that she should not trust the rat, after all, he did know the turtles, his voice calmed her and she found herself sitting next to him.

"Now, sweet one, tell me about yourself." Vicki looked at the rat, with his gray fur and deep, doleful eyes, and began to tell her story.

"My name is Vicki Myers. Actually, it is Victoria, but no one really calls me that. I am sixteen years old and I like pizza. I live here, in New York City, with my uncle." She stopped because Splinter, for that was the rat's name, had raised one paw for her to stop.

"Is something wrong, Master Rat?", she asked, worried about her new companion. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"First of all, child, you may call me Splinter. And yes, something is wrong. You said that you live here with your uncle. What about the rest of your family? Where are they?" Suddenly, Vicki's face clouded over and she hunched forward, trying not to let her tears show in front of Splinter.

"My uncle took me in. He is not really my uncle, but the rest of my family is dead. He brought me here to train me. He said that I have every right to be sad about what happened, but also told me who was responsible for their deaths. And that I should enact my revenge on them."

"Who was it who killed your family?", asked Splinter, although he already knew the answer.

"The turtles. They came to help my family. But, instead of rescuing them, they threw my family back into the flames. My sisters. My brothers. Gone. Because of those damn turtles!" She was yelling again at the top of her lungs and began to look for her weapons again. Splinter watched her rage for several minutes before deciding to stop her. He rose to his feet and grabbed ahold of Vicki's right wrist. She turned and stared at him, wondering who would be stupid enough to touch her. When she saw who it was, all of her rage quickly evaporated and she became tired. She wobbled on her feet and Splinter led her back over to the pallet and helped her lay down. Before closing her eyes, Vicki looked up at Splinter, tears leaking from the corners of her brown eyes.

"Why? My brothers and sisters didn't deserve it. Why Splinter?" She fell asleep with tears streaming down her face and Splinter watched them, wondering how to answer her.


	9. Chapter 9:  April

Splinter left Vicki alone in the training room, eager to tell his sons what she had told him, yet worried as to what had happened to her. Leo, Mikey, and Donny were all sitting on the couches around the television in their home. Raph was still in his room.

"Leonardo, go and get your brother. I wish to tell all of you what Vicki has told me." Leo went up to Raph's room.

"Hey Raph! C'mon man. Master Splinter wants to talk to us." Raph followed Leo back to the main area of their home.

"My sons, something terrible has happened to this child. It would seem that Shredder has convinced her that you four are responsible for the deaths of every member of her family. From what I have seen, no one in her family is dead and she is considered missing. Shredder has brainwashed her I believe. She wants all four of you dead."

"What about you Splinter? Does she hate you?" asked Donny, worrying for his father's safety.

"No. It would seem that Shredder knew she had met you before and knew it would be easier to convince her that you killed them and he left me out of the equation. When I spoke to her, she seemed scared and alone. That is all." Raph snorted at this last statement.

"No, that's not all. What are we going to do with her? She hates us, she thinks her family is dead, and she is under the control of Shredder. We can't just leave her like this! She is just a pawn in Shredder's game." He crossed his arms and scowled at all of them, as if daring them to question him. Unfortunately, he was right and they knew it.

"We should figure out how Shredder is controlling her. And we should talk to her, to see how much she hates each of us." said Leo, trying to ignore Raph's obvious anger at what had happened to the girl. Splinter nodded slowly, agreeing with what his son had suggested.

"Yes, but we should be cautious. We would not want to anger her again. We need someone to talk to her, someone she is not familiar with."

As one, Leo, Donny, Mikey, and Raph all answered with one word: "April."

Donny and Mikey went to go and ask April if she would be willing to help them. She agreed immediately and followed them to their sewer home. April walked into the training room to see Vicki curled into a ball. She walked slowly towards the girl, not wanting to scare her.

"Vicki? Are you alright?" she asked, placing a hand on the girl's back. Vicki looked up at the gentle, red-headed woman crouching next to her.

"Who are you?" Vicki asked slowly.

"My name is April, but I'm more interested in you. I want to help you. I want to be your friend. So does Master Splinter and so do the turtles. They haven't hurt you. Have you ever heard of someone called Shredder?" As soon as she mentioned the criminal's name, April saw a glimmer of recognition in Vicki's eyes.

"Of course I know who Shredder is! He is the leader of the Foot Clan and the person who rescued me from the fire. He is my uncle." April was shocked by this and left Vicki alone in the training room to share this news with the others.


	10. Chapter 10: Realization

***Author's Note* **

** Sorry it's been so long since I wrote anything. Summer classes and jobs tend to get in the way. I will try to add a new chapter once a month now until the end of the story.**

After talking to April and Splinter, it was decided that each of the turtles would talk to Vicki alone.

Mikey 

Vicki sat on the floor, her feet attached to the floor with iron chains. Across from her sat Mikey. He had decided to tell her jokes and talk to her about skateboarding before breaching the subject of the fire at her home.

"Okay, what was the turtle doing on the highway? About 100 millimeters an hour!" Mikey started rolling around on the floor laughing while Vicki cracked a small smile. She was trying not to laugh at his lame jokes and his open nature, but she couldn't help it.

"Mikey, which do you prefer, half-pipe or quarter-pipe?" she asked carefully, as if unsure about what to say to the turtle.

"Definitely sewer-pipe. Seriously, you have no idea what skating is until you skate the sewer!" She cracked up laughing when she saw how serious he was.

"Vicki, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but my brothers and I were not responsible for what happened. We were there, but we saved you and your family. That night, Donny and I got two of your sisters, Savannah and Katie, to safety after the fire had caused the stairs to collapse. I know you probably don't believe me, but I am telling the truth." Mikey pleaded with her. When he was done, Vicki looked down at her shackled feet and then looked back up at him.

"Thank you Mikey, but I don't think you are right. You may have saved my sisters, but Raphael sent them back into the flames." Mikey left and Vicki continued to sit, waiting for the next turtle to arrive.

Donny

Before he walked into the training room, Donny had decided to try to get Vicki to see that they were not the bad guys by using logic. As he walked in, he noticed that Vicki was just lounging on the floor. Not exactly the image of someone who wanted to kill them, but he also noticed how her muscles were bunched, ready to strike at any moment. She sat up as he sat down and just stared at him. Donny cleared his throat and said,

"So, I'm gonna guess you know why I'm here." She rolled her eyes at him and said,

"Yeah. You are going to tell me that you tried to save my family and that Shredder, my own uncle, is responsible for their deaths. I know Donny. I'm not stupid. When I was in school, I was at the top of my class." Donny looked a little taken aback at that. She smiled and continued,

"I was taking all upper-level classes: Physics, Calculus, Advanced English. You name it, I took it."

"Well, did you ever take a logic course?"

"No. Logic isn't really something that can be taught. It is something every person has. It just depends on whether they use it or not."

"Then you know that, logically, we couldn't have hurt you or your family. First of all, we caught you robbing a bank. We stopped you. Therefore, we are the good guys. Second of all, instead of turning you over to the authorities, we kept you here. We haven't hurt you or tortured you or made you do anything. We just want to know why you hate us and what happened to you." Vicki looked down at the floor, apparently in deep thought. She looked up at Donny with tears in her eyes.

"I wish I could believe you Donny, but I can't. I have memories of you, Mikey, and Leo and memories of Raphael throwing my family back into the flames. Why would I have those memories if it never happened? I'm sorry."

Donny left her alone, with this awful feeling that someone, or something, had hurt Vicki beyond any extent of which they could fix her.

Raph 

Leo refused to see Vicki and talk to her, saying that they should just go and track down Shredder, so Raph was the next one to talk to Vicki. Mikey and Donny were both unsure of how this would help; after all, she definitely wanted Raph dead. But Splinter said that, in order to gain her trust, Raphael must talk to her. So, grabbing the day's copy of _The New York Times_, Raph entered the training center. Vicki glared at him with hatred and loathing etched in every feature of her face. Her hands clenched as she stared at him and she moved away from him as he sat down.

"What are you doing here? Why did you come in?" she snarled at him.

"I came because I haven't done anything to you! I saved you and your youngest sister from the fire that burned your house to the ground! I'm not gonna use jokes or logic to make you see sense. I am telling you the truth!"

"This is NOT the truth! My family was burning around me and my uncle came into the house and saved me, the only member of my family left! And all because of you!"

"Shredder is using you! He wants you to kill us and then, he will kill you too! He isn't your uncle! He is your enemy!

"Prove it! Prove that what you are saying is the truth and that you are not lying to get me to kill my uncle!" Raph threw the copy of _The New York Times_ at her feet and left. Vicki looked down at the front page and began to tremble. It was a picture of her family: her dad and step-mom, her brothers, and her sisters. They were all in tears. The headline underneath the picture read "Family Still Searches for Missing Daughter". And then, Vicki saw her own picture, with the caption that she had been missing for five months and if anyone had any information leading to her recovery, to call the emergency hotline that had been set up.

Vicki dropped the paper. Her family was alive. They were looking for her. The turtles were right. April was right. Splinter was right. And Shredder? Was he wrong? What about her memories? Sinking to the floor in agony, Vicki realized that, although she had no idea what had happened, she would find out, one way or another.


End file.
